Linares R10: Anand beats Carlsen, leads field

3/5/2007 – India's superstar Vishy Anand scored a fine victory over young Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, who was relegated to equal second with Vassily Ivanchuk, a point behind the leader. Peter Leko got into trouble with the white pieces against Veselin Topalov, but managed to salvage a draw. Monday is a rest day. Full report with pictures and analysis.

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Standings

Commentary by GM Mihail Marin

The following express commentary was provided by Romanian GM Mihail Marin,
who is the author of a number of very popular ChessBase training CDs and articles
for ChessBase Magazine. GM Marin will study the games of the Morelia/Linares
tournament in greater detail and provide the full results of his analysis in
the next issue of ChessBase
Magazine.

14.b4!? This move was introduced by Leko, just a couple of months ago.
14...cxb4 15.cxb4 Nac4 16.Nxc4 Nxc4 17.Bb3. A novelty. The original game
continued 17.Bh6 Re8 18.Bb3 Bd7 19.Qe2 Nb6 . Black has managed to stabilise the
queenside, while on the kingside he is out of danger anyway. White's advantage
of space will gradually lose its relevance after the following exchanges, making
a draw the most logical result. 20.Rac1 Rc8 21.Be3 Rxc1 22.Rxc1 Qb8 23.Nd2 Rc8
24.Rxc8+ Nxc8 25.f4 Qc7 and the game soon ended in a draw, Leko-Mamedyarov, Moscow
2006. 17...Nb6. This willing knight retreat offers White a wider choice
than in the aforementioned game. 17...Bd7 might be an improvement, since the exchange
on c4 is rather double-edged. 18.Be3. For the time being, the bishop is
better placed here than on h6. White's plan in the next phase of the game is to
spoil Black's queenside coordination. Only later, he will switch his attention
towards the opposite wing. 18...Bd7 19.Rc1 Rc8 20.Rxc8 Bxc8.

A first consequence of the bishop's presence on e3. The generally desirable capture
with the queen, maintaining equal chances in the fight for the c-file, is impossible.
21.Qc2 Bd7 22.Rc1 Na8. Sad necessity. Black cannot allow the infiltration
of the enemy pieces to c7. 23.Qd2 Qb8.

Black is just one tempo away (...Rc8) from reaching a similar position as in Leko-Mamedyarov.
The further course of the game supports Tartakower's statement that a game of
chess is a drama of one tempo... 24.Bg5! Strategically speaking, this exchange
favours Black. However, given the passive position of the a8-knight it also serves
White's attacking purposes. 24...Bxg5?! This only helps White develop his
initiative. Carlsen probably failed to foresee the glorious carrier of the enemy
knight. 25.Nxg5 Rc8?! Still underestimating the danger. Under no circumstances
should Black have left the kingside without defenders. 25...Kg7 , preparing ...h6,
should have been preferred. After 26.f4 h6 27.fxe5 (27.Nf3 f6 is more
or less OK for Black.) 27...hxg5 28.e6 White has strong compensation for
the piece, but the position is far from simple. 26.Rf1

26...h6. Now it is too late for 26...Kg7 27.f4 h6 because of 28.Nxf7!
Kxf7 29.fxe5+ with a decisive attack. 27.Ne6! Kh7. The knight feels at
home on e6. If 27...fxe6 then 28.Qxh6 , winning. 28.f4 Qa7+ 29.Kh2 Be8
After 29...fxe6 30.dxe6 Be8 31.f5 Black will soon be crushed by the mighty tandem
of white pawns. 30.f5 gxf5 31.exf5. Threatening f6, with a devastating
attack. 31...f6

The tactical phase is over and Black is just hopeless. The e6-knight is just
too strong. 32.Re1 Nc7 33.Rc1 Bd7 34.Rc3 e4 35.Rg3 Nxe6 36.dxe6 Be8 37.e7
Bh5 38.Qxd6 1-0. [Click to replay]

11...h6. An interesting opening. The reason why Black spends a whole
tempo to take the g5-square under control can be seen after 11...e5 12.dxe5
Bxe5 13.Rg5 Nd7 14.cxd5 cxd5 15.Rf5 with very active play for White in Tisdall-Sidselrud,
Norway 2002. 12.Bd2 e5 13.Rg3 Qh5 14.cxd5 exd4 15.Ne4 Nxe4 16.Qxe4+ Qe5 17.Qxe5+
Bxe5 18.Rf3 cxd5 19.Bb5+ Ke7 20.exd4 Bd6. 20...Bxd4? would have left the
black king in big danger after 21.Bb4+ Ke6 22.0-0-0. 21.Kf1 Be6.

After a short tactical sequence, the game has calmed down completely. The position
is symmetrical, which makes a draw highly probable. 22.Re1 Rac8 23.Bd3 Rc6
24.Rf5 Rb6 25.b3 Bb4 26.Bxb4+ Rxb4 27.Rxd5 Kf6 28.Rd6 Ke7 29.Rd5 Kf6 1/2-1/2.
[Click to replay]

21...d5. After thorough preparation, Black finally plays the move that
is characteristic for the Marshall Attack. The similarity induced by the fact
that the e5-pawn is hanging here too is rather feeble. After capturing that pawn,
it will be White who will have to sacrifice material soon. 22.exd5 Bxd5 23.Rxe5
Rxe5 24.Nxe5 Bxc4 25.dxc4 Ne4 26.Qf3. There is no way back. If 26.Nf3? then
26...Bc5! with advantage for Black. 26...Nxd2 27.Qxf7+ Kh7 28.Qf5+ Kg8 29.Qe6+
Kh7 30.Qg6+ Kg8 31.Qe6+ Kh7 32.Qg6+ Kg8 33.Qf7+ Kh7 34.Nd7. Since the perpetual
is always there, White can play for a while, in spite of his material deficit.
34...Ba3 35.c5 Kh8 36.g5 hxg5 37.Qe6 Ne4 38.Qh3+ Kg8 39.Qe6+ Kh8 40.Qxe4 Qxd7
41.Qa8+ Kh7 42.Qxa3.

Finally, White recuperated the sacrificed material with interest, but now it
is Black's turn to force a draw by perpetual. 42...Qd1+ 43.Kh2 Qh5+ 44.Kg1
1/2-1/2. [Click to replay]

11...Rc8!? I do not understand the point nehind this novelty. It does
not prevent the knight's jump to d5 and it just misplaces the rook that is supposed
to support the pawn attack on the other wing. However, I am open to accept that
there must be well-hidden point, since Topalov never treats the opening in superficial
way. The normal move is 11...Nbd7. 12.Nd5 Nxd5. One critical test for
Topalov's novelty is 12...Bxd5 13.exd5 Qxc2 . After 14.Rc1 Qf5 15.Qb3 the entire
black queenside is in danger, which makes the a5-pawn a strong candidate to promotion.
13.exd5 Bg4 14.c4 Nd7. 14...Bxf3?! does not yield anything in view of
15.Bxf3 when 15...Qxc4? loses material to 16.Rc1. 15.Nd2 Bxe2 16.Qxe2 f5 17.f3
Nf6 18.b4 Qd7 19.Rfd1 Qe8 20.Qd3 Qh5 21.c5

See also

12/30/2017 – The "King Salman World Blitz & Rapid Championships 2017" in Riyadh from Decemer 26th to 30th. At the half way point of the Blitz Championship, the defending champ Sergey Karjakin leads with 9 / 11. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is a half point back followed by Peter Svidler and a trio of Chinese: Wang, Ding and Yu on 8 / 11. In the Women's Pia Cramling has a full point lead with 9½ / 11. Watch live with Rounds 11 to 22 from 12:00 Noon CET (6:00 AM EST) on Saturday with commentary by E. Miroshnichenko & WGM K. Tsatsalashvili.

See also

12/6/2017 – Imagine this: you tell a computer system how the pieces move — nothing more. Then you tell it to learn to play the game. And a day later — yes, just 24 hours — it has figured it out to the level that beats the strongest programs in the world convincingly! DeepMind, the company that recently created the strongest Go program in the world, turned its attention to chess, and came up with this spectacular result.

Video

On this 60 mins video we are going to concentrate on a simple, very solid idea in the main line Scandinavian, which even Magnus Carlsen has used to win games. Black focusses on making his life easy in the opening and forces White to work very hard to get advantage – but it is doubtful if White can get an advantage. Club players are always on the lookout for effective, time-saving solutions and here we have just that. Accompany FIDE Senior Trainer and IM Andrew Martin on this 60 mins video. You can learn a new opening system in 60 mins and start to play it with confidence on the very same day!

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